The hearing room is packed on Monday morning for a public hearing on legislation to raise Idaho’s beer and wine taxes for the first time in more than four decades. Keith Allred, a former Harvard professor who heads the good-government group The Common Interest, presents the bill to the committee to begin the public hearing, 2/23/09

Betsy Russell photo

George Dillard of the Idaho Good Sams testifies against legislation to raise Idaho’s beer tax, saying, “You’re hitting the retired community kinda hard.”